Fandango Accounted For 22% Of “Hunger Games” Ticket Sales

Sites include fandango.com . Published on April 10th, 2012. Written by Anthony West.

The box office talk is all about Hunger Games and by the looks of things; its success is owed in large part to online ticket seller Fandango. According to a report, Fandango accounted for more 22% of all ticket sold in the opening weekend of the movie which grossed a whopping $155 in its first three days running.

The movie phenomenon is based on a series of books but many are counting social media and very intense word of mouth marketing for its success at the box office. This transition from offline to online marketing of movies means that many people (especially the younger audience) no longer wait in line to buy tickets to go see a movie.

Hunger Games accounted for 90% of all tickets sold on Fandango over the film’s opening weekend and by all accounts, the performance by Fandango is making all parties connected happy—including Yahoo who has just announced a partnership with the online ticket seller.

Fandango’s General Manager, Rick Butler, was quite ecstatic about the performance of the company and had this to say regarding the record-breaking weekend: “Fandango’s record- breaking percentage of the film’s opening weekend is a testament to the growing popularity of online and mobile ticketing as the way to go to the movies. It’s rare to see the first film in a franchise performing like an established sequel, but ‘The Hunger Games’ is a true phenomenon. Fans have given it our highest ‘Must Go!” rating, with Web and mobile ticket sales still going strong on Sunday.”

From Hollywood’s perspective, a ticket sale is a ticket sale so I suppose a record haul by online ticket seller Fandango is good news. For ticket outlets however, it’s the start of very lean times.

Do you buy movie tickets online? Let us know why you’ve made the switch using the comments below.